New record for Dublin bikes after warm spell

THE recent good weather has encouraged city residents to take to two wheels as a new record for the number of journeys taken on Dublin's free bike scheme has been set, write Shane Hickey and Breandan Morley.

THE recent good weather has encouraged city residents to take to two wheels as a new record for the number of journeys taken on Dublin's free bike scheme has been set, write Shane Hickey and Breandan Morley.

A total of 5,874 journeys were made on the 550 bicycles dotted around the city on March 24.

The Dublin Bikes scheme has been hailed as a massive success since launching in September 2009, and is now in the process of a 10-fold expansion.

Dublin City Council completed the first phase of this expansion at the start of last month. Another 100 bikes were added to the fleet to bring it to 550; another four docking stations were built in Portobello, Harcourt Terrace, Smithfield and Sherrard Street, and there are now 1,100 cycle stands.

"I would imagine that over the summer period, that record actually might be beaten," said Jason Frehill of Dublin City Council.